Several weeks back I came across a listing on Craigslist where someone had cut down a tree and discovered it had bees inside. They were looking for someone to come get the bees, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Several years back I had caught a swarm of bees and started a hive. For whatever reason the bees left my hive giving me a good Langstroth hive to spare. I still had the hive as wells as all my beekeeping equipment. I have been planning on buying bees sometime, I just have not gotten around to it yet.

I had moved two times since I last had bees, and I couldn’t find any of my bee equipment except the hive. Since it was a cold day I figured the bees would be pretty mild anyway, so I grabbed the hive and headed out.

The bees had a rough time when the tree fell. The tree shattered and the combs slapped together into a pile. Between the carnage and the cold the hive lost about 90% of its population. The rug in the picture was used by the property owner to cover the bees until I could get there. I decided to give the bees the best chance I could and collected every live bee I could find and the majority of the comb. Due to the cold weather I had no problems, and didn’t need any protection except some gloves for picking up bees(which braver souls would have done without).

I found a cardboard box that fit right on top of the hive and placed some comb and the bees into the box on top of the hive. My idea was that they would get used to the hive and move down into it and I could remove the box this spring.

Since the weather was going to remain colder I put the bees in the mud room, closed up. Somehow they managed to get out and I ended up with some pet house bees. My wife didn’t like it, but the bees were very mild mannered and stayed in the mud room for the most part.

With so few bees remaining I decided to keep them in the mud room until the weather improves. I am not sure if they will make it or not, I am also not sure if the queen made it or not. Worse case I can try to mix the remaining bees with some more bees I have purchased.

I was already planning on adding a hive this spring. I missed my chance on the bees for sale in my area, and they were not that close either being all the way over in Chillicothe. So I searched the net looking for some bees that could be shipped to my door. The best price I found was Spille Bees at www.spillehoney.com. They had three pounds of bees with an Italian queen shipped for $126. If someone knows of a better deal send it my way, as I wouldn’t mind adding a third hive this year.

So hopefully I should have one hive going this year. I am also planning on setting up several swarm traps throughout my properties. Hopefully I can come up with some free bees. I also plan on putting some ads on craigslist that I am looking for swarms. Maybe I can come up with several more hives full of bees before years end.

My purchased bees ship April 28th, so I have some time to prepare. Since I have plenty of scrap wood that I get from a local Stave Sawmill I plan on building my own hives. The one hive I currently have is a standard Langstroth hive. I plan on building a Tanzanian top bar hive that will match the standard dimensions of a Langstroth hive, being longer of course.

 

 

The main difference between a Tanzanian hive and its more popular cousin the Kenyan top bar hive is that the side walls on the Tanzanian are straight. Since the sloped walls of the Kenyan hive don’t  keep bees from attaching comb to the

sides, I have not figured out why it has any benefits over the Tanzanian hive which is easier to build and can take standard comb frames.

 

When I build my hives I will try to standardize, although I will be using both Langstroth and top bars hives until I decide on my favorite. The one thing I have to do is decide on which size super I want to go with, deep or medium. I can see advantages to both, although I think deep currently holds the lead for me. Deep has the advantage of more real estate in a top bar style hive. When I decide which size to make my standard I will build everything to that size, including my swarm traps.

I am by no means and expert beekeeper, but I look forward to learning and trying some new things. My long term plan is to replace the refined sugar in my families diet with honey, hopefully by the end of next year. Honey has the advantage of being the healthiest and easiest to produce sweetener for us.

Coming into 2014 I have three acres in Cereal rye and two acres in Spelt. These were planted last fall and will be ready to harvest in several months. I plan on using this harvest to acquire enough seed to plant a larger amount of acreage this fall. My family and critters will eat some as well.

In anticipation of the spelt harvest we are switching from white wheat flour to spelt. We had tried switching to whole wheat in the past, but it didn’t go over well with us. So far we have found the spelt to be much better. While bleached factory flour does taste slightly better in some cooking, the health advantages of spelt outweigh the difference, and spelt is better for some cooking. Spelt is hands down better than whole wheat in my opinion. We are looking forward to spelt independence day in a couple months.

This year will be the first year I can go field scale with Smoke Signals popcorn. After building up for several years through two bad droughts I finally have enough popcorn seed to plant an acre or two. I currently plan on tilling under about 1 acre of cereal rye to plant the popcorn into. It will be a field close to the house so I can keep an eye on the field, and cultivate it with the chicken powered cultivators. I will also plant more popcorn by the garden.

I will be breaking ground on more acreage this year. One acre by the house will be grazed until mid summer, then plowed under and planted in buckwheat. That fall after the buckwheat has been harvested I will move apple seedlings into what will become the future orchard.

I am really looking forward to this year and what it will be like on our larger acreage. We will need to buy or build something to store some of the harvest in as we only have one grain bin. We are planning to add one grain bin or other grain storage device a year until we get to capacity. We currently have a large (for us) grain bin and a circular concrete foundation for a missing corn crib. Adding another bin using the concrete slab will be easy, adding additional bins will be harder as we will have to pour the concrete and decide their location.

I plan on getting all my fields into the same crop rotation for the most part. That will make the best use of the large grain bin and as a plus I will only have to setup my combine to harvest the main crop one time.

As I am only planting open pollinated varieties I plan to save seed until the next rotation of that crop. It means I will have to store several bushels of every variety I intend to plant. In order to store that much seed I need to come up with a good storage plan. I have considered barrels, homemade bins, small grain bins and bulk feed bins to get the job done.

Looking into the future I don’t think I will have more than 30 acres under cultivation. Just for figuring in order to plant a 30 acre field I would need somewhere around 60 bushels. I would also want to store enough for personal use until that variety comes into the rotation again. So for each crop I would need to store around 100 bushels. Not a large amount compared to modern farms.

I don’t think grain bins are a very viable option mainly due to space and looks. I don’t want to dot my landscape with a dozen or so small grain bins. Although a possibility is to put several of the grain bins on the back of the property out of sight. Buying small grain bins would probably be the cheapest option as there is no demand for them. I will be adding atleast one more grain bin for bulk grain storage after harvest.

Another possibility is to build a wooden grain bulk bin out of lumber and plywood. This option has some advantages as I think the wood structure if built right would keep the grain in better condition. I could also build it to suite my needs, and I could always add capacity and it could be infinitely added to. This option would probably cost more than old grain bins, but would be more compact and look better.

Yet another option is to use bulk feed bins. If I could find some used this option could be affordable, if I have to buy new it could get costly. The bulk bins have the advantage of taking up less space than a conventional grain bin and are also easier to erect. With the ability for the grain to flow right out of the bottom without a need for an auger is another advantage.

I have also considered using wagons to store the grain. I have seen others build a roof over the wagon so you don’t have to store them under cover. The wagons could be moved around as needed, and would also be easier to resell if I no longer need them. This option would cost about as much as building a wood grain bin.

Since my large bin can hold about 5,000 bushels I am in no danger of outgrowing it in the near future. It has a ventilated floor and also has a propane dryer. While I will most likely use the aeration system, I hope to never need the propane dryer. The bin is setup with a floor auger as well as an overhead auger to load trucks. It also has a spreader at the top of the bin to keep the grain evenly spread while loading. It is also setup for a sweep auger that is missing. When my grandpa built it he went all out.

My plan is to use the big bin to store the current crop. If the crop needs drying it can handle the job. With the auger setup it will be easy to unload. When the grain has been sold down to the amount I need I will then transfer the remaining amount to a smaller storage bin to keep it for my own use. The large grain bin will then be ready for the next harvest.

I would like to add a second bin of about 1000 bushel to the concrete slab. That way if I don’t sell the grain in the big bin by the next harvest I have somewhere else to store a larger amount of grain.

What I am currently planning on growing is spelt, oats, popcorn, corn, cowpeas, cereal rye, buckwheat, sunflowers and two types of wheat. I will also be testing other crops and growing cover crops as well. I am sure it will take several years before I know what suites me best.

Above is the Google Earth view of Rutledge Flea Market in Missouri. It is the largest flea market I have ever been to, and while others claim to be the largest Flea Market in Missouri they don’t hold a candle to this one.

 

If you are within driving distance I recommend a visit to this flea market. I have bought hundreds of items from the Rutledge Flea market, and I am addicted to the deals that can be had at this huge flea market. I will give a word of advice, this is a Hillbilly flea market, not a high flue-ten affair. You will run into chickens, dogs, goats and other livestock for sale. You will also run into some real hillbillys. It will scare most city slickers back to their air conditioned antique stores.

Rutledge Flea market is located in the country outside of the small city of Rutledge Missouri. It is located in a pretty remote section of northeast Missouri. While I live sixty five miles from Rutledge I rarely miss the opportunity to go there.

The flea market is only open one weekend a month, with the exception of an occasional second weekend on the last month. They are open from March through October, and are closed through the winter. They are open Friday and Saturday on the second weekend of the month, with Saturday being the big sales day.

Rutledge started around 1948 as a dog and gun exchange. It grew to encompass 60 acres with hundreds of booths and thousands of buyers. It is what a Walmart would be like after TEOTWAWKI.

If you decide to make the journey to the flea market I recommend to get there as early as possible on Saturday. I often get there at 8 am, and in the past would get their shortly after daybreak. All booths are manned by the sellers, and they usually setup their booths on Friday, to be ready at daybreak on Saturday. Some sellers start packing up a little after noon. By three in the evening most booths have closed.

You will find a little bit of everything at Rutledge. I have bought everything from guns to food. I have bought hundreds of planter plates at Rutledge for my AC planter. You name it there is a good chance you can eventually find it at Rutledge.

It cost $2 to park in the field doubling as parking overflow. If you are a fast walker expect four hours to walk through everything, a lot longer if you stop to look a lot. Be ready to haggle for a good deal, and don’t be afraid to make an offer. There are no ATMs, so bring cash. Golf carts ATV’s and UTV’s can be used at the flea market but are charged a fee to enter. If I remember right the fee for an ATV is $5. Admittance is free, you just have to pay to park.

I know a lot of the people who read my blog are not from Missouri, but those from Missouri, Iowa and Illinois should strongly consider taking a trip one weekend to check out this one of a kind flea market. I am surprised at the amount of people in my area who have not heard of the Rutledge Flea Market.

The flea market does have a simple website with a calendar of their schedule:

Rutledge Flea Market Website

The season starts

 

If you go to Rutledge there is also a bonus, a second large outdoor flea market just down the road, Colony. Worth checking out, Colony is not as large as Rutledge, and is a little more peaceful. I have found some good deals there as well, and go there every time I am at Rutledge. Colony has free parking and admittance is free as well.

Colony allows the use of Golf carts and they are not charged a fee to enter. Colony is about 1/6 the size of Rutledge but is well worth visiting. Colony’s schedule matches that of Rutledge, but it is also open additional weekends every month.

 

Colony Website

 

I plan to attend both flea markets when they open next month. I am not affiliated with either flea market, just figured I would let others know about them.

While cruising Craigslist I came across an ad for a Dexter cow for sale just 50 miles from home. The price was right so I arranged a visit to take a look. Since we have more acreage now there is plenty of room for more cattle, and I am ready to build my herd.

The cow is three years old and had just had a calf. She is a Dun unregistered Dexter with short legs. Smaller than any cow I have ever been around. The weather here has been very brutal for Missouri, and it has stayed in the teens or below. Long story short the calf didn’t make it and the cow was for sale. The asking price was $475, so she was worth a look.

I made the drive for a look at the cow and got a good surprise. When her calf died they had put a Jersey heifer calf with her and she adopted it with no problems. So the big plus was that she didn’t dry up, and there was a possibility to tame her down for a family milk cow. While not hand tame she would let me walk to within four foot of her, and she didn’t freak out or act loony.

The first Dexter cow I bought was a field cow. We bought her calf as well, and had planned on milking her. While I got her tame enough that she will eat out of a bucket I am holding, she never was tame enough to milk, or at least not for a milking newby with no stanchion or reasonable barn. We still have that cow, and she will come right up when called, but I will not attempt to milk her again. We are waiting for some better behaved heifers that will be calving this spring.

The next big problem was transportation. I don’t have a trailer to transport cows, I have only brought calves back in the back of my truck with a wood cattle rack. It works great for calves, but I wasn’t keen on trying it on a full grown cow, even if she was a mini cow. A small cattle trailer is on my list of needs and will be purchased when the right one comes along. The problem was solved by asking if the seller would consider delivery, he offered the very fair price of $25 and I accepted. So for $500 I got my new milk cow and delivery.

We were due for a big snow storm the next day, so delivery was scheduled for the end of the week. While thinking about the steps that would be required to tame the cow, I realized I needed a calf to put on her. The calf would make sure she didn’t dry up before becoming tame enough to milk. The cheapest calves to buy are dairy calves, but there are no big dairies in my area. The closest calf I could find at a reasonable price was in Kansas City. I then remembered the Jersey Heifer calf that was already adopted by my cow.

I made a call to inquire about purchasing the Jersey calf. He considered it and offered her at $350. The price was a little steep and I declined. He called me back and stated he would lower the price to $250, I offered $200 and 10 square bales and a deal was struck. So I now had a cow and a calf. Things were falling in line nicely.

He delivered them that Friday and I put them in the corral separated from my other cattle. I have been working on taming the new cow, and hope to be milking her by next week. While I am setup better than in the past I don’t have an area to milk and will have to work on getting one setup. We have named the new cow Milk Jug and the Jersey calf has been named Jersey Girl.

Milk Jug is my first Chondro cow, and she is very small. Luckily Arod my bull does not carry the Chondrodysplasia gene, so I will be setting up a date between the two. While I prefer my cattle to calve in the spring, there is an advantage to having a cow or two on a different schedule for milking purposes.

I am excited about finally being able to get milk and other dairy products direct from the source. I will hopefully be flooded with milk this spring after calving season, but it is nice to get a jump on it. I have four cattle that are friendly enough I could probably milk them in the field, but I am hoping that I will have something more professional setup before then.

I have been plying Milk Jug with cow candy and she is taming down well. I have a lot to learn, as I have not milked anything before. I hope to get a milking machine setup when my other heifers are ready to be milked. For now I will learn to do it manually.

Last year we bought a Ford 861 diesel tractor to go along with the 8N. We knew what we wanted in a tractor, so we narrowed our choices early. Here were my determining factors in shopping for a tractor:

#1: Nothing New. I consider any tractor made in the last twenty years new. I don’t have that kind of money, nor do I want expensive parts when I have a breakdown. I also want a solid proven design, so for me new was off the table.

 

#2: HP. I was looking for a tractor with enough HP to do round bales if we should decide to go that route in the future. So for our uses we were looking for a tractor in the 50hp range. Too much power and you burn your money as wasted fuel. Parts are also usually more expensive for the larger tractors. Too little HP and there would be no great reason to upgrade from the 8N.

 

#3: Common. In the real world common is good, it means you can keep that item going without looking around for exotic parts and equipment. I wanted a tractor that had parts availability and a following. I also wanted parts affordability, because parts availability is nothing if you cannot afford them anyway.

 

#4: Extras. Since I cannot buy a tractor every year I wanted to get everything accomplished with the additional tractor. So I wanted live PTO, Hydraulics and preferably diesel power. These make the tractor easier to use and more efficient. I currently don’t need a hydraulic outlet, but wanted at-least one outlet for possible future needs.

In my quest for the right tractor I looked at several WD45s. For the money they seemed like a good deal. While a little under powered they were also easy to find and there were several in my area for around $1300. I also looked at a diesel David Brown 880 for $1500, as well as some smaller IH utility tractors which were more expensive running around $4000.

While the WD45 had the price and availability advantage they seemed a little crude to me. The David Brown was rough and the IH tractors I looked at were not that common. I had about given up when I found the Ford 861.

The 861 was very close to home and I found it listed on craigslist in my price range. With plenty of power, live PTO and hydraulics with a single modern hydraulic outlet it was everything I was looking for. I was able to talk the seller down and bought it for $2700. The tractor was running with good rubber and only needed cleaned up and cared for.

I have since put this tractor through its paces, plowing four acres of dry rock hard sod to be put into cereal rye and spelt. I have found Powermaster a correct label, and have been pleased with this tractors ability.

 

The 861 can do work that would be at the limits for the 8N. Baling hay was a pleasure with live pto. The 861 has one more advantage, it is extremely fuel efficient. It can do the work with much less fuel than the 8N, which is great considering the 8N wasn’t a fuel hog either.

 

The best test I have for it will come this summer when it powers the combine. There is also a chance that we will buy a round baler as well. We will be adding several more acres into cultivation this spring. Our goal is to have about 20 acres in fields, the rest in pasture and hay ground, as well as some wooded acreage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changes To My Website:

When I first started the website I was having some problems with spam Comments. I have since found a filter that has done a very good job, and will be allowing comments to post immediately instead of having to be approved. This is the way I wanted it originally, but the amount of spam stopped me from doing it. I will monitor all comments to remove any offensive or spam comments that make it through the filter.

Things have generally went well for us and I feel very blessed, but we have definitely had a bad start to this year. So hopefully we get all the bad luck out of the way early for the remainder of the year.

The worst of it was that our old home burned to the ground. While we have moved to the new farm down the road, my brother wasn’t as lucky and lost everything except a few things stored in his shop. The trailer was a duplex with two independent 1 bedroom units with their own water and power connections. My brother and I bought it to live in while we worked on the property and the plan was to eventually build a house to replace it. Our plans changed when we bought the farm and my family moved into the farm house. We were going to move my mother up here this year and she was going live in our side of the duplex, obviously that plan will have to wait. We had a friend staying in our side of the duplex in meantime, and he lost a lot of his stuff in the fire as well.

The trailer and almost everything in it was a total lost, one end was left barely standing, the other end burned to the ground. The amazing thing is I was in the trailer less than two hours before it was completely ablaze. I was on my way to pickup a truck and had stopped there on my way. We think the fire started from an electrical short, and nobody except my brothers cat was there. Unfortunately for the cat there was no way out.

We can tell that the fire started in the front of the trailer in my brothers living room or the end of his bedroom, but there is no obvious reason for the fire to have started. By the time we knew it was on fire it was already too late, and the whole structure was ablaze. So it will remain an annoying mystery.

One good thing is my brother had some of his things in two fire safes. I have always wondered how well they worked, and these two were well tested. The larger one was in the bedroom on the end of the trailer that burned completely down. When the fire burned through the floor the safe fell into the crawl space under the trailer. Here is a picture of what it looked like when we pulled it from the house:

The plastic handle and dial had melted away, as well as the hinges. It is kinda hard to tell from the cellphone picture but the safe looked swollen. This was not a high dollar safe, but it did its job well. It was Sentry brand from Walmart. You can see in the picture there is a peace of the beds headboard stuck to the side of the safe.

We pulled the safe from the house while it was still smoldering. The items in the safe were very warm, and the envelope of money had turned black on one side from the heat, but nothing burned. Everything in the safe was fine except the envelope and some plastic coin envelopes. So these little safes do there job. The fire melted the aluminum siding into streams draining down the foundation, but the safe kept its contents from melting.

The other fire safe had hard drives in it, it was located in the area where the fire started. The hard drives had a plastic shell that warped, but the drives still look good, we have not had time to test them.

You would think that the fire would be enough bad luck, but there was more to come. After the fire we had a day with strong winds that ripped a peace of tin off the trailer and it took out the electric fence keeping the cattle in. Usually it isn’t that big of a deal when the cows get out, but this time they decided to go on a walkabout. Not just a couple, but everyone. Our guess is they were spooked after the fire, and the heavy winds probably didn’t help either. They decided to find a better pasture and left that evening.

We found out they were missing about 9 that evening and immediately searched for them. We searched the entire sawmill with no luck. We drove down all the roads around the sawmill and spotlighted the fields to no avail. They were gone, and we had to wait for daybreak to find them.

My cows had always stuck around the area when loose. In fact they usually ended up coming up to the house and mooing at me looking for some cow candy. I think the house being gone led to their walkabout.

We got up the next morning ready to begin searching at daybreak. We started by driving down every road and looking for our small herd. The worst of it was the winds were from the north, and the high for that day was going to be 12, during the morning it was 1. Just the other day it was 50, if they wanted to go for an adventure they should have picked a better day.

The driving was a dead end with no sign of 11 crazy cows. Just across the road from our sawmill is a thousand acre chunk of land with no roads to its core. Knowing our luck the cattle were going to be in the middle. We switched to an ATV and began searching the area in sections, and switching out with someone waiting in a truck, to take turns thawing out. After several hours we had searched most of the area accessible to a wheeled vehicle, as well as some wooded area that wasn’t. There was no sign of our cattle.

We switched to going door to door asking if anyone had seen our cows. We started with the most likely direction our cows would go, and fanned out from there. At this point it was pretty depressing.

That evening we went to go to neighbors miles away in the event our cattle had hoofed it that far. I was really wishing I had tracking collars on my cattle at this point. We again searched all the visible areas from the road.

As things often turn out when it looks the bleakest you get a break. Our break was a call from the mail lady saying she saw our cattle at an abandoned house a half mile from the sawmill. It was an area we searched, so they had decided to come back. Now we had to get them home.

Nobody was missing, they had stuck together like a proper herd. While very thirsty, and a slight limp on Holstein nobody else seemed worse for wear. The spot they were found was very close to the highway, so my wife stayed with them while I ran home to get sweet feed. My brother went home to get the ATC and bring up the rear when we started the mile and a half drive home.

 

At this point I was very glad to have docile cows that were trained to follow me. With a bucket of sweet feed to entice them I walked ahead and they for the most part followed me home. Since they were already on the loose we decided to take them to the farm, and not back to the sawmill. It went pretty smooth, although it was obvious they had a good adventure and were pretty tired when we got them home.

Since we were not ready for them at the Farm, they get to stay in the corral for a week. When they get used to their new home I will let them into the paddock that just needs the wires strung up.

 

 

 

 

It could have went much worse, at-least we have the cattle at the farm and everybody made it okay. We were planning to move them to the farm next week, they were on the last Paddock of stockpiled forage at the sawmill. They apparently wanted to jump the gun and get to the farm sooner.

A good use for old bed springs is to be drug behind an ATV and used as a cultivator and seed bed finishing tool. For the coming planting season I will have to use something else, as I have already worked the life out of the set I have used for a couple years, but figured I would throw this idea out for others.

For a large garden plot I could see a set of bed springs lasting a decade or two. My set has prepared about ten acres of ground. Not bad for something that was laying around when I couldn’t find a good cultivator.

I drag mine at higher speeds with an ATC. While it cannot tackle extreme rough ground it can handle small clods and smooth the ground for planting. I put an old futon mattress on top for added weight. I also considered dragging some logs behind it as well. For added weight I soak the mattress with water before use.

This last fall was really rough on the bed springs. We were still in a drought and I was plowing rock hard ground. I would run across the plowed ground several times with a disk, but there was still plenty of large clods that tore up the bed springs.

A better use would be on a garden plot instead of small field conditions. Below are some pictures that show what can be done by dragging some bed springs.

 

If you are like me then you have already worked on calculating the difference between the costs of different sources of heat. Often times what you think would be the cheapest form of heat is more expensive than another option. Providing heat can be a major drain on finances during winter, and life can get rough without a warm home.

At the bottom of this post I will have an Excel speadsheet that you can use to calculate the various methods of heat, and there cost per million BTU. This will make comparing options much easier. To adjust the pricing just click on the box and add your local price for that source of energy. I would gladly give credit to whoever made this awesome tool, but I don’t know who that is.

I have used wood heat for the majority of my adult life, but when I moved to the sawmill I didn’t have that option for awhile. My house was much too small to make room for a wood stove. I was going to work around that by building a greenhouse that would house a wood furnace, that was going to be built this year until we bought the farm.

Since wood heat was temporarily unavailable we did a rough test between kerosene, propane and electricity. In that test electricity was the least expensive, and later this energy comparison spreadsheat confirmed that finding.

Luckily I had not installed that wood furnace at the sawmill and we will be using it to heat our new home. Since it will take awhile to get it installed we will be using an old cast iron wood stove in the meantime. The good thing about old houses is they were built to be heated by wood.

Wood heat is the least expensive way to heat your home in my area, even if you purchase the firewood. I always have some tree that has fallen, or needs to be removed. There is also plenty of free firewood in most areas if you keep a lookout for it.

For some areas coal might be the least expensive source for heat. I have only seen coal for sale one time in my area, and cannot find anywhere to buy it currently. Coal has some advantages, like automated furnaces and ease of handling if you have the equipment.

 

ENERGY COSTS EXCEL

 

I made a youtube video of the PVC Chicken Tractor Row Cultivator. For some reason the volume is low on the video, but otherwise I am happy with the video. It pretty much goes over the idea and the building of the cultivator.

 

Youtube link to the chicken tractor cultivator

Okay, a little late but it took a lot of time to put everything down in an understandable (I hope) format with pictures. Here are the step by step plans for building the PVC Chicken Tractor Row Cultivator.

 

I kept better track of the supplies needed to build the PVC Chicken Cultivator, so I am able to give a materials list and even general building directions. I build working towards a general design in my mind without plans, and adjust as I go. So writing it down in a step by step order isn’t in my nature. If something isn’t clear let me know and I will try to rephrase or explain the step better.

The bottom frame is made from 1 1/4″ conduit and the top wire frame is made from 1/2″ conduit. I used the vinyl bathroom wall cover for the coop. I also used 2″ PVC to make the water tube.

 

 

 

 

Here is a list of materials needed:

 

 

PVC Supplies:

5x 1/2″ PVC Conduit sticks (10′)

 

 

 

 

 

8x 1/2″ T’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

2x 1/2″ Corner three ways

 

 

 

 

 

 

4x 1/2″ Elbows

 

 

 

 

 

 

3x 1 1/4″ PVC Sticks (10′)

 

 

 

 

 

4x 1 1/4″ Elbows

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Materials:

1x 4×8 vinyl bathroom wall sheet

 

 

 

150x wire holders

 

 

 

 

 

 

150x self taping screws (3/4″)

 

 

 

 

 

100x zip ties long enough to go around 1/2″ pipe

 

 

 

 

 

50x hog rings or wire, less if you buy wider chicken wire.

 

 

 

 

 

2x hinges

 

 

 

 

 

 

2x eyes

 

 

 

 

 

carabiner clip

 

 

 

 

 

wire

 

 

 

 

 

10′ rope

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Wire

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe in building to suite your needs, and you may want to change the way I have built the Chicken Cultivator. It is easy to adjust the length or width to match the way you garden or farm. Some changes I recommend are adding an access door to add or remove chickens, probably the best place is right by the coop, and adding a pull rope to the back of the tractor.

Here is a list of cuts to make if you build it the same dimensions as I did:

1/2″   PVC Pipe Cuts:

12x    30″ pieces for wire cage frame

4x    1 1/2″ pieces for wire cage Frame T connectors

2x    10″ pieces for the feed door sides

1x    12 1/2″ piece for the feed door top

1x    18 1/4″ piece for the feed door bottom

5x     19″ pieces for the top wire cage support

2x     26 1/4″ for feed dish support and coop bottom support

1x  15 1/4″ Top frame support for feed door.

 

These may need to be adjusted depending on your width.

 

 1 1/4″ PVC Pipe cuts:

Cut the bell off the end of your 1 1/4″ sticks if they come with a belled end. Then cut two pieces for the ends that determine your width. This can be adjusted to fit between whatever width you plant your rows. When cutting the end pieces remember to take into account the elbow when determining your width.

Water Tube Supplies:

1x 2″ Pipe

 

 

 

 

 

2x    2″ Elbows

 

 

 

 

2x    2″ cap

 

 

 

 

 

water nipple

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Tools:

 

• 
• Something to cut the PVC pipe, a hacksaw or cutoff saw.

• 
• PVC Glue, cleaner and primer.

 

• 
• A drill.

 

• 
• Drill bits and screw bit.

 

 

• 
• Something to cut the excess ends of zip ties, and a knife for cutting the vinyl sheets.

 

Putting Everything Together:

You will use the 1 1/2″ long pieces of 1/2″ PVC to glue two 1/2″ T’s together at a 90 degree angle. You then glue the 30″ lengths of 1/2″ pvc into these T’s to make a V.

 Glue two pairs of the 30″ lengths of PVC to the 1/2″ corner Y pieces. These will be for the ends of the Chicken Cultivator.

Glue the 1 1/4″ bottom framework together.

 

Drill Small holes along the bottom of the 1 1/4″ framework for drainage. Drill holes into the 1 1/4″ elbows for the end of the chicken wire support framework. Drill evenly spaced holes every two foot down each side of the 1 1/4″ framework starting at the elbows to mount the chicken wire support framework. I use a 7/8 paddle bit to drill these holes, you might practice on some of the excess 1 1/4″ PVC as it takes a little experience to get a nice hole. I also drill a small hole on the front 1 1/4″ elbow to mount my pull rope to.

 

 

The 1/2″ V’s built are then inserted into the 1 1/4″ bottom framework. The 19″ pieces of PVC are to connect these V’s together and form the backbone of the chicken wire support framework. This completes the bare framework of the PVC Chicken Tractor Cultivator.

The 26 1/4″ cross pieces need to have the ends cut lengthwise so they can rest on the 1 1/4″ bottom framework. These are used for the coop front and the feed bowl shelf. Screw the ends to the 1 1/4″ bottom framework. I used a feed bowl to judge the distance needed from the front. For the Coop I mounted it just ahead of the V wire support framework. Cut chicken wire to the correct size and use the wire clips and the self taping screws to hold the chicken wire to the frame. By building a shelf for the food bowl it will stay put, and come with the Chicken Cultivator when it is moved.

When the shelf is complete I used wire to build a net to keep the chickens off the feed bowl shelf. You want the openings to be big enough for the chickens to get their heads to the bowls, but not large enough for them to be able to fit through. This keeps the feed bowls and feed clean, and is better for you and the chickens. I usually use garden fence, but didn’t have any while building the Cultivator. So if you have the money buying a short length of garden fence or similar fencing would be less work. For roosters you may need to make the openings on purchased fence larger, so they can fit their combs through to the feed.

The Feed door is pretty straight forward. It has to be bent with some force, so be prepared to clamp it after gluing. You need the feed door to be in a triangle shape to fit the front of the coop, getting it into this shape takes some force so it will try to pull free while gluing it together. Cover the door in chicken wire and attach the bottom to the 1 1/4″ frame with the hinges.

 

On the feed door frame I cut a triangle out of the bathroom vinyl and screw it to the back of the door frame. This keeps the door from swinging in, and strengthens the framework.

 

I use a caribiner clip and two eyes to keep the feed door closed. I also use a short length of twine to tie the caribiner clip to the front of the chicken tractor so my wife won’t lose the clip.

Now you can cover the tractor in chicken wire. I use zip ties to hold the chicken wire to the 1/2″ framework and secure the bottom with wire holders drilled into the 1 1/4″ frame with self tapping screws. For the front I weave the chicken wire together. It makes a seamless transition and is very strong, but does take some time to do.

 

Where one run of chicken wire ends and another begins I use hog rings to clip the two runs of chicken wire together. This makes sure something cannot go between the chicken wire and get inside.

 

Before you run the chicken wire all the way to the back attach the water tube and build the front and back of the coop. To build the front of the coop I cut two strips of vinyl that were 27″ long and went from 8″ wide on one end to 4″ wide at the other. I screwed these to the frame and trimmed the bottom edge. I then cut a square of vinyl that had a half circle cut at the top to fit around the water tube. I then bolted the square to the strips. You could also use a solid piece, but I had the scraps and decided to use them.

 

I ran the chicken wire to just inside the coop, you could run it all the way across as well. Once inside the coop I used wire holders to secure it to the 1/2″ PVC frame.

 

For the back part of the coop I screwed a large piece of vinyl to the frame and used a knife to trim it to size. You could also trace the shape and cut it out before screwing it down. When screwed down I cut a hole to place the water tube through, and then mounted the water tube.

I then covered the coop with the vinyl and screwed it on both edges and the bottom of both sides.

 

For the coop I use vinyl bathroom wall panels. These are pretty easy to cut, easy to clean and are very durable. I used the old roof panel from the Original Chicken Tractor for this Cultivator, it was eight years old when it was removed from the Original Chicken Tractor when it was being remodeled into a rabbit tractor and chick house. You can also use siding, roofing tin, or other materials.

 

Tube Waterer

The tube waterer is very easy to build, and works well. Cut the main pipe long enough to go through the coop and out the back. Glue the elbow to drop down to the nipple water cap. Cut a length of pipe to go from the down elbow to the cap with the water nipple. The length of this section of pipe will depend on the height of your chickens, I like the nipple waterer to be about the same height as their head. Drill a hole in the cap to screw in the nipple waterer and glue these sections together. Mount the waterer to the frame with the main tube sticking out the back. Glue the other elbow to the tube sticking out the coop pointing it up. You can then cut a length of pipe for the water reservoir that can use a cap as a lid.

I tried to explain everything in an easy to follow format with plenty of pictures. I hope to build a couple more of these this spring to be used in the garden, and will follow my own guidelines to troubleshoot the directions and improve them.